Transcript for Egypt on Brink of Civil War as Protesters Take to Streets

Frightening picture here in america and now to the other arresting image today. This one playing out overseas. Frightening scenes out of egypt tonight. Supporters of the ousted president mohamed morsi facing off against the military. Things turn chaotic. Soldiers firing shots into the crowd of presidential supporters. As the day wore on, fires breaking out. Tonight our coverage of the crisis in egypt as we ask, could this lead to civil war. Alex, good evening. It was a tense day here in egypt. After the first democratically lekted president was ousted. Many are afraid it could be the beginning of a bloody wave of violence. Reporter: Battles in the streets of cairo tonight. Supporters and opponents of the deposed president exchanging gunfire, rocks, and molotov cocktails. The army eventually arrived, but here and in issue slashes elsewhere, 17 people were killed, dozens more wounded. In one city far from cairo, the army opened fire as supporters prayed, sending them running for It was a day mohamed morsi's supporters dubbed the "friday of rejection," rejecting the military takeover. Earlier, an angry crowd surged toward the military compound they say is holding morsi, who has not been seen publically since his arrest wednesday night. "Hit me here, hit me here," this man shouted at soldiers. Then shots rang out. Three were killed. Hundreds of thousands of morsi's furious supporters turned out across egypt today. We elected him and we want him back. Morsi is still my president, morsi is still my president. Just this wire that separates hundreds of armed soldiers from these thousands of morrissey supporters. The clerics are trying to keep them calm. Things could change very quickly. The spiritual head of the muslim brotherhood, morsi's party, told supporters to be willing to sacrifice themselves for morsi. People are not going to go. They are surrounding the republican guard's headquarters until the president is handed over to them, and they will take the president back into the presidential palace. Reporter: Neither side is showing signs of backing down and that could have ripplesques well beyond egypt. Some two million barrels of egypt pass through the suez canal every day and the violence there has driven up prices 7% this week, which could soon be felt at the pump.

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